1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of oral hygiene, and more particularly to a MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER AND SPOOL ENCLOSURE ASSEMBLY THEREFOR for receiving a spool of dental floss and dispensing and retaining a length of the dental floss in a taut condition.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR .sctn. 1.97-1.99
The dental profession has long recognized the benefits of regular use of dental floss in home dental care and oral hygiene programs. Heretofore, people have either chosen one of many dental floss holding devices that have been previously known, or they hold and maneuver dental floss with their fingers. The later procedure often involves wrapping the dental floss around the fingers, sometimes resulting in pain as flossing proceeds; the method of holding and manipulating dental floss with the fingers is also wasteful of flossing material, and is somewhat difficult, the degree of difficulty in part depending upon the relative size of fingers and mouth, dexterity, and patience.
Various dental floss holders have been developed to facilitate holding and tensioning the dental floss, and to facilitate the urging of dental floss between the teeth. Although in the prior art some dental floss holders are of disposable design, reusable dental floss holders utilizing commonly available dental floss are more often cost effective. Of the currently more popular reusable dental floss holders which are of low-cost construction, and which use widely available dental floss, most have a pair of spaced arms at the end of a supporting handle. A length of dental floss is strung between the ends of the spaced arms which have floss-receiving notches at their terminal ends. The ends of the dental floss are secured in some fashion or another, generally either by winding around a button or protrusion on the handle, or pulling the ends of the dental floss into inwardly tapered notches of frictional securing slots on the handle. These dental floss holders have only limited success commercially for a number of reasons, often including inadequate securing and/or tensioning of the dental floss and/or a design not easily maneuvered in the back of the mouth, and/or a design wasteful of dental floss, and/or a design with too much bulk and discomfort in use. Further, some prior art dental floss holders which use commonly available dental floss material require tie-down, knotting, loop-making, or other special treatment of one or both of the dental floss ends.
Additionally, many prior art dental floss holders do not fit commonly available toothbrush holders or cannot be hung from a hook which results in the device being stored out of site in for example, a medicine cabinet or a drawer or closet. Experience has shown that if the device is not conveniently displayed in full sight, it is not used on a regular basis and dental hygiene suffers.
In the present invention, there is disclosed a dental floss holder for receiving a spool of dental floss and dispensing and retaining a length of the dental floss in a taut condition by multiple means for maintaining tautness of the dental floss and a spool enclosure assembly therefor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,745 to Olson there is disclosed a dental flosser-dispenser which includes a pistol-grip shaped handle portion and a bow portion extending therefrom for holding a length of tension of floss between its tip and an anchoring mechanism. A spool of dental floss is provided in the handle and includes a detente system for selectively paying out new floss from the spool and anchoring the spool in place while the device is being used for flossing. An alternative embodiment of this dental floss dispenser may include a pistol-grip shaped handle portion in an elongate neck portion supporting a U-shape armature. The detente means for selectively permitting the floss to be unwound from the spool supported in the handle portion. Specifically, the handle portion includes housing halves that are fastened together whereby a hub member receives a spool of floss positioned over the hub and a screw having a finger-grip is accessible from the outside of the housing for tightening and loosening the flossing spool.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,392 to Tenny there is disclosed an improved dental floss holder having a comparatively inflexible elongate member supporting two flexible spaced arms at opposite ends, and supporting an inflexible spaced arm between. A single length of dental floss is fastened near the terminal end of either flexible arm, then wrapped around the inflexible spaced arm, then fastened at the flexible spaced arm at the opposite end. This provides two taut and useable lengths of dental floss, either of which may be used for flossing while the other end of the dental floss holder is used as a handle. This dental floss holder utilizes buttons/protrusions in combination with frictional securing slots to thereby obtain two taut and useable lengths of dental floss in tandem when the dental floss holder has been strung for use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,519 to Tarrson et al there is disclosed a spool of thread, such as dental floss, which is housed in a holder. The thread or floss is wound on a bobbin having a hollow, cylindrical hub area. A crutch for controlling the bobbin rotation comprises a split post having an enlarged cross section near the center thereof. This split post fits into the hollow cylindrical hub area of the bobbin with the post squeezed slightly to provide a desired amount of friction between the central posts and the cylindrical hub walls. The friction keeps the bobbin from unwinding, however the friction is not so great that it keeps the thread or floss from pulling smoothly and evenly from the bobbin. In this way the spool is secured to prevent it from rotating or unwinding when the thread is not being removed from the spool.
The MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER of the present invention comprises a body having a handle portion, an intermediate portion for housing a spool of dental floss, and a forked end portion including two spaced arms, each arm having at least one floss receiving slot at a distal end thereof whereby a taut length of dental floss can be held in the slots across a span between the arms. The intermediate portion has a through bore opening on one side into a spool receiving cavity and on the other side onto an irregular surface. The body is cooperative with a spool enclosure piece or a spool enclosing base which is received into the spool receiving cavity. The spool enclosure piece has an annular cavity about a central hub for receiving a spool of dental floss. In this embodiment, the hub extends through the through bore of the intermediate portion for connection with an end cap adjacent the irregular surface of the intermediate portion. In some spool enclosing base embodiments a positional pin or a connection pin extends through the through bore of the intermediate portion for connection with a latching cap or an end cap, respectively, adjacent the irregular surface of the intermediate portion. In yet another spool enclosing base embodiment, a pin having a base portion, a neck portion and a distal end extends through the through bore of the intermediate portion. The distal end of the pin includes a groove and a taper on its outer surface. The pin cooperates with a seating hub of the spool enclosing base. In all arrangements, the MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER of the present invention detentes the floss to keep it taut by four positive locking mechanisms, namely: (1) gripping means including the irregular surface (preferably a series of concentric annular grooves) of the intermediate portion for selectively locking in place a length of dental floss between an end cap or latching cap or a pin having a base portion and a neck portion and the irregular surface of the intermediate portion wherein the end cap or latching cap or pin has a cooperative irregular surface for coupling in a mating engagement with the adjacent irregular surface of the intermediate portion and is capable of axial movement upon a hub or a positional pin or a connection pin to a position of non-mated engagement or to a position of mated engagement of the cooperative irregular surfaces to thereby, respectively, selectively allow release or capture of a length of dental floss between the cooperative irregular surfaces of the end or latching cap and adjacent intermediate portion; (2) coupling means between the end cap or latching cap or pin base portion and the hub or positional pin or connection pin permitting selective pressure against a length of dental floss positioned between the end cap or latching cap or pin base portion and the irregular surface of the intermediate portion wherein a spool enclosure piece or a spool enclosing base and the end cap or latching cap or pin base portion are oppositely aligned from each other at separate ends of the hub or positional pin or connection pin, such that either the distal end of the hub or positional pin or connection pin is received in a central cavity or bore of the end cap or latching cap or the distal end of the pin having a base portion and a neck portion is received in a seating hub of the spool enclosing base so that the spool enclosure piece or spool enclosing base and end cap or latching cap or pin base portion and pin neck portion can cooperate with each other to thereby place additional pressure upon a length of dental floss to prevent slippage; (3) means for unidirectional dispensing and collection of thread to prevent release of tension in the dispensed dental floss comprising the spool enclosure piece or spool enclosing base having an annular skirt rearwardly extending from a flange cap, the external surface of which includes either a plurality of guide teeth cooperative with a ratcheting mechanism or a plurality of ratcheting mechanisms in the side wall of the spool receiving cavity of the intermediate body portion or a ratcheting mechanism or a plurality of ratcheting mechanisms cooperative with a plurality of guide teeth in the side wall of the spool receiving cavity of the intermediate body portion, to allow rotation of the spool enclosing piece in one direction only while preventing rotation in an opposite direction that would release the tension on the floss; and (4) after the floss has been threaded through the slots of the forked end portion, it is passed through a slit or groove path on the upper surface of the flange cap of the spool enclosure piece or spool enclosing base and knotted to securely fasten the floss to the flange cap so that when the flange cap is rotated in its one direction new floss is dispensed from the spool and used floss is collected under the flange of the flange cap.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the flange cap of the spool enclosure piece or spool enclosing base contains a pattern of groove paths which form floss indexing means to assist the user of the subject MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER to replace in a measured manner the operative length of dental floss held taught between the holder's spaced arms with a corresponding length of new dental floss.
The SPOOL ENCLOSURE ASSEMBLY for use in a dental floss holder having a through bore opening on one side into a spool receiving cavity and on the other side onto an irregular surface comprises a spool enclosure piece or spool enclosing base dimensioned to be received in the spool receiving cavity which has an annular cavity about a central hub, a plurality of legs, or a central seating hub for receiving a spool of dental floss. The central hub of the spool enclosure piece or a positional pin or connection pin having one end thereof retained in the spool enclosing base extends through the through bore of the dental floss holder to cooperate with an end cap or latching end cap having an irregular surface for coupling in a mating engagement with the irregular surface of the dental floss holder such as to establish a position of non-mated engagement or a position of mated engagement of the irregular surfaces to thereby, respectively, selectively allow release or capture of a length of dental floss between the irregular surface of the end cap or latching end cap and the irregular surface of the dental floss holder. Alternatively, the distal end of a pin having a base portion and a neck portion extends through the through bore of the dental floss holder such that an annular notch in the pin's distal end cooperates with a plurality of legs or a seating hub of an alternative spool enclosing base to achieve the coupling in a mated engagement of the irregular surface formed by the pin's base portion and neck portion or an alternative pin's base portion, platform portion and neck portion with an adjacent complimentary irregular surface of the holder's intermediate portion through-bore.
The present invention has numerous advantages over prior art dental floss holders and dispensers. For example, some floss holders fail to have positive locking mechanisms and therefore floss is allowed to give when forcing it between tightly opposing teeth thereby rendering the same non-functional. The multiple positive locking mechanisms of the present invention are designed to maintain a length of dental floss in a taut condition. Further, some floss holders have complicated threading instructions which make the product difficult to use and therefore, tend to lead to discontinued use. Other floss holders require the floss to be threaded, knotted, or wrapped with respect to each usable length of floss. In this regard, each time floss is dispensed, one must unwrap the old floss, cut it off and re-thread the floss holder. By comparison, the present invention is easier to use because it needs only to be threaded one time and the thread is not removed until the entire spool has been dispensed. Further, some floss holders have a problem with the floss coming off the holder during use. The present invention preferably provides for a U-shape forked end portion including two spaced arms made to be more rigid, thus preventing flexing of the two spaced arms under pressure and a loss of floss tautness, allowing the floss to come off one or both of the spaced arms. Additionally, the spaced arms have generally deeper floss receiving guide slots and the floss is threaded in such a fashion as to wrap around the two spaced arms, inside to outside and outside to inside respectively, which forces the floss to follow the contour of the spaced arms thus preventing sagging of the floss and its dislodgement from the spaced arms. Still further, unlike some floss holders which are designed to be completely disposable, the body of the subject MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER is reusable., while the SPOOL ENCLOSURE ASSEMBLY therefor may serve as a separate reusable or disposable packaging to house a replacement spool of floss. Further, although some floss holders require 12 to 18 inches of floss per use, the present invention by comparison requires as little as one inch of floss per use. One must simply advance the floss only the distance necessary to replace the length of dental floss held taut between spaced arms to replace old floss with new floss; floss indexing means of the subject MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER assists the user in such advancement. Still further, some floss holders do not fit well in the hand and are difficult to properly orient for flossing. The present MULTIPLE LOCK DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER is of reduced bulk, and streamlined with the forked end portion preferably extending from the body at an oblique angle to the handle for easy insertion and manipulation in the mouth. Also, the handle of the body is of streamlined shape and preferably has a hole such that it can be stored in a toothbrush holder or hung from a hook. Still further, although some floss holders are complicated requiring several parts that are either difficult to mold and/or assemble, the present invention consists of a contiguous body and a spool enclosure assembly which may be inexpensively mass produced and easily assembled.